Context and gender‐specific differences in the acoustic structure of common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) phee calls

Abstract

Captive adult common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) produce whistlelike "phee" calls in two contexts; in the home cage environment, phee calls may function as part of territorial marking behavior, and when animals are separated from social companions, phee calls may serve to reunite the group. Isolation phee calls tend to have more syllables than calls produced in the home cage by the same animals, and as a result, are longer in duration. The durations of isolation call syllables are shorter than in home cage calls, and isolation calls have lower start and end frequencies, higher peak frequencies, and increased frequency range compared to phee calls produced by the same animals in their home cages. The modifications made to the general structure of the phee call by isolated animals result in more information that may indicate context or location of an isolated caller. When the vocalizations were analyzed by sex, between-sex differences in call structure appeared consistently in both contexts. Males tended to exhibit higher call frequencies and greater variability between syllables than females. Published 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Antiphonal Responses to Loud Contact Calls Produced by Saguinus oedipus

“…If tamarins represent these spaces differently, then the structure of the receiver's antiphonal calls-and their function-may differ among contexts. This idea is supported by results from a study on common marmosets which show acoustic differences between long calls produced by isolated individuals versus those produced by individuals in a group setting (Norcross and Newman, 1993). Given the evidence for modification during call production based on social context, it is not surprising that we also find vocal responses are affected by changes in social context.…”

Sources of variation in the long-distance vocalizations of spotted hyenas

“…In some species, the structure of particular calls varies predictably with the context in which the calls are emitted (Norcross & Newman, 1993;Rendall et al, 1999;Crockford & Boesch, 2003;Wich et al, 2003;Slocombe & Zuberbuhler, 2005a,b). While variation in vocalizations and their association with behavioral contexts has been extensively studied in primates (e.g., Green, 1975;Hauser, 1991;Norcross & Newman, 1993;Hammerschmidt & Todt, 1995;Papaeliou et al, 2002;Crockford & Boesch, 2003;Notman & Rendall, 2005;Slocombe & Zuberbuhler, 2005a;Patel & Owren, 2007), relatively little research of this nature has been done on other animals (but see Leger et al, 1979;Insley, 1992;Brown & Farabaugh, 1997;McCowan & Reiss, 2001;Pongracz et al, 2005).…”

The Primate Isolation Call: A Comparison with Precocial Birds and Non-primate Mammals

“…In other living primates (and other mammals), the iic is no longer given once an individual passes through infancy, but the call itself is gradually transformed acoustically and functionally into another vocalization with a completely different function. Examples of the former situation can be found in squirrel monkeys (e.g., Newman and Symmes, 1982) and common marmosets (e.g., Epple, 1968;Norcross and Newman, 1993). Examples of the latter can be found in echolocating bats, where the iic gradually becomes the call used in echolocation (e.g., Gould, 1974).…”